About

St. Helens Youth Brass Band

The LEA originally formed the Band in 1979 as the St. Helens Music Centre Brass Band. Despite falling victim to budget cuts in 1990, it has continued to develop and prosper independently and renamed the St. Helens Youth Brass Band. The Band is a registered charity, and its success is due to a considerable amount of hard work and commitment from the young musicians and their parents. Running costs are met by various fundraising activities held throughout the year.

Historically, SHYBB has won the National Youth Brass Band Championships of Great Britain on six consecutive occasions between 1997 and 2002, winning the Intermediate Class in 1997, Advanced Class in 1998 and 1999 and achieving a hat trick in the Premier Class in 2000, 2001 and 2002. After taking a year out in which the Training Band won the Junior Class, The Band was runner up for the following two years. They participated in the Music for Youth National Festival at the Royal Festival Hall, London and they were announced as winners of the Open Class, being awarded the Outstanding Performance Award. SHYBB commissioned Howard Snell to write ‘Excelsior’, with funds provided by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of England. The piece is dedicated to Lynda Nicholson and the Band, and was given its world premiere at the Theatre Royal, St. Helens, conducted by the composer himself. The work was subsequently selected as a test piece for the Third Section of the 2000 National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain and also featured in the Pontin’s Festival in 2005.

In February 2000, the BBC invited the SHYBB to perform on the TV programme ‘Blue Peter’. The band has made a number of commercial recordings, along with several appearances on BBC Radio 2’s ‘Listen to the Band’, Radio Merseyside, GMR Brass and BBC’s ‘North West Tonight’.

In June of 2002, the Band was most privileged to be asked to attend and perform at the procession during the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, incorporating old English children’s songs, portraying every year of The Queens reign.

In 2008, SHYBB were proud to be a part of Liverpool’s Capital of Culture year, premiering a piece at St. George’s Hall by local composer Tom Moss. SHYBB has also appeared on Sky TV, whilst performing pre-match concerts before crowds of 10,000 people for Saints Rugby Club at both the Knowsley Road and Langtree Park Stadiums.

The Band has made many successful tours abroad – to the French Alps in July 1998, Austria in July 2000, Switzerland in 2002, Paris in 2004, New York in 2006, Florence in 2008, Ohio in 2010, Austria in 2012 and most recently Holland in 2014.

Players are encouraged to join additional brass bands in and around St. Helens, with many of our players progressing into some of the premier bands in the country, including Besses O’ the Barn, Black Dyke, Fodens, Marple, Sellers International, Wingates and Rainford Band. Many SHYBB players have held positions in both the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain and the National Children’s Band.

St Helens Youth Brass Band rehearses every Saturday in term time 10.30 ‘til 12.30pm.

The Beginners’ Band

The Junior Band is the most recent addition to the organisation. It started in September 2014 and is the latest piece in the realisation of the plan to have a structured system to introduce young musicians and percussionists to the fun of banding. The members of this Band are all beginners, some having only been learning for a few months. They follow a full course of instruction, which gives them the skills needed to progress into the Youth Band.

John Burke is our inspirational conductor and the accent is on fun. They rehearse every Saturday between 9.30 and 10.30am.